New IE Articles

International Business Review –Volume 27, Issue 1, pg. 93-101.

Entrepreneurs and internationalization: A study of Western immigrants in an emerging market

Joyce E.H. McHenry, Denice E. Welch

Our interview-based study began as an investigation of Westerners residing in Vietnam. Our sample fell into three groups: local expatriates, expatriate entrepreneurs, and hybrids (those who worked for a multinational while owning a local company). Based on this finding, we re-examined the data to explore expatriates as employers. Two themes emerged. The first revealed expatriate entrepreneurs and hybrids as active market players who were competitors for local talent and/or potential local distributors or partners in Vietnam. The second theme indicated a parallel process: the internationalization of firms entering a foreign market and the internationalization of individuals entering that same market. Our contribution is the opening of the ‘homogeneous’ black box of Western immigrants and the expansion of the concept of the expatriate entrepreneur, thus reinserting the role of the individual in the process of firm internationalization

International Business Review –Volume 27, Issue 1, pg. 149-160.

Post-entry survival of developing economy international new ventures: A dynamic capability perspective

Zaheer Khan, Yong Kyu Lew

Recent research suggests that the capabilities needed for the survival of international new ventures (INVs) may be at odds with the original aims that had brought them into the international markets. INV mortality is exacerbated by uncertainty and lack of familiarity with the host market environment, which elevates the liabilities of newness, smallness, and foreignness in the initiating companies. We investigate the key factors that determine the post-entry survival of developing economy INVs by analyzing in-depth seven software INVs originating in the developing economy of Pakistan. These INVs survived the 2000 dotcom crisis and the 2008 global financial crisis, and continue to grow. Based on a dynamic capability view on the INVs’ internationalization and survival from sensing-seizing-reconfiguration angles, we find the founders’ entrepreneurial orientations and network development capabilities (sensing), specialized product focus and niche market development (seizing), and transformation and renewal capabilities (reconfiguration) are the key capabilities that enhance the post-entry survival of these INVs. Importantly, we find that a stable leadership and the post-entry international experience of the leadership team continuously feed into facilitating the creation and maintenance of dynamic capabilities. This paper identifies key strategic aspects that determine the post-entry survival of the developing economy INVs.

Despite the increase in research about international entrepreneurship, relatively little is known about the process in Africa. This is due to the disparity between the actualization of business ventures and global perceptions of African entrepreneurs. As a result of the diversity of countries within the African continent, the nature of international entrepreneurship varies with cultural and historical context. To address this research gap, we discuss how international entrepreneurship in Africa differs to the more studied traditionally North American and European perspective. To do this we develop a number of research propositions for resource-rich landlocked African countries (Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) that have unique characteristics in terms of how they approach international entrepreneurship. The research propositions suggest that resource-rich landlocked African countries need to focus on informal networks and cultural attributes as a way to differentiate themselves in the international marketplace. Managerial implications and theoretical research suggestions for differentiating resource-rich landlocked African countries from the more resource scarce and coastal countries are stated.

Exploring the Role of Ownership in International Entrepreneurship: How does Ownership Affect Internationalisation of Polish Firms?

Wach, Krzysztof

The article focuses on the role of ownership in the process of entrepreneurial internationalisation of the firm. The main objective of the article is to verify whether and how ownership impacts on the level of internationalisation. The study elaborates on three dimensions of ownership, which are ownership structure (foreign vs. domestic), family ownership and the characteristics of the owner (age, sex, global mindset and knowledge – the last two measured on a 5-point Likert scale). The sample of 190 internationalised Polish businesses were used in order to verify the assumed hypotheses. The investigated firms operating in Poland of foreign ownership are more internationalised, measured by TNI, than those of domestic capital only. As a general rule, the investigated non-family firms are more internationalised than family firms as for the average TNI value. International attitude of the entrepreneur-owner affect the level of internationalisation: the higher values of attitude index, the higher values of TNI. Neither the age nor the sex of the entrepreneur affect the level of internationalisation.